Mikhail Gorbachev

Aims and Learning Outcomes

Aims

• To explain how Gorbachev came to lead the USSR
• To explain why he introduced such rapid and wide reaching changes
• To examine why Gorbachev is viewed differently in different countries

Learning Outcomes

These notes should help students to improve and develop their knowledge and understanding of such issues as:

• The nature of Communist rule in the USSR and Eastern Europe
• Why Gorbachev’s reforms led to the collapse of the USSR